Green Bay Packers tackle Bryan Bulaga is looking at a switch to the left side, as is guard Josh Sitton. File/Press-Gazette Media

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The Green Bay Packers made an MVP-sized commitment to their future with the recent $110-million extension they doled out to Aaron Rodgers.

Now, the team is taking steps to protect its investment by shifting Bryan Bulaga and Josh Sitton to the left side of the offensive line to cover Rodgers’ blind side.

As the Packers’ rookie orientation camp concluded on Sunday, Packers coach Mike McCarthy addressed the decision to relocate their two best offensive linemen for the first time with gathered media gathered at Lambeau Field.

McCarthy stands by the science in the switch, which aims to improve and solidify an offensive line that surrendered 51 sacks last season, which stood as the second most in the NFL last season.

While some of those sacks fell on the shoulders of Rodgers, left tackle Marshall Newhouse was responsible for a team-high 46 pressures last season. His eight sacks and six hits allowed paired with 32 hurries placed him toward the bottom tier of the league at the position, according to Pro Football Focus.

The topic was broached once the season concluded and after going through exit interviews, post-season evaluations and video review, the decision became clear.

“Frankly, we felt Bryan Bulaga and Josh Sitton were our two most accomplished offensive linemen, and just going back to the old-school theory of how you structure your offensive line,” McCarthy said.

"We wanted to put those guys on the left side. We had a chance to watch Josh working and playing the left guard position at the Pro Bowl, so there was more information there. And so, with that, I think it creates more competition.”

McCarthy said he hadn’t made up his mind on the move during NFL owners meetings in March, but it was obvious depth became a concern once Bulaga went down with a season-ending hip injury before the bye week and stopgap veteran Jeff Saturday began to show his age.

An unexpected boost from undrafted rookie Don Barclay at the position helped stem the tide late in the season, but what resulted was still a line that surrendered 10 more sacks than it did the year prior.

McCarthy wouldn’t comment on if he views the right tackle as a position for the taking next season and dismissed the notion that the team’s failure to produce a 500-yard individual rusher helped spur the move.

However, there's no denying there will be increased competition for the starting spot opposite Bulaga after Derek Sherrod’s slow rehab from a broken leg last season conceded the left-side duty to Newhouse.

Two weeks ago, the Packers spent two consecutive fourth-round picks on Colorado tackle David Bakhtiari and Cornell’s J.C. Tretter this season after shunning the position until the seventh-round in 2012.

“With reps, everybody involved on the right side has some history there,” McCarthy said. “You look at, Marshall’s played the right side, T.J.’s played the right side, Barclay’s played the right side, so we’re just trying to make as much competition as possible, and we feel with Bryan and Josh we’ve solved the left side and those guys have some history together, so there’s a number of different things that went into it.”